Sukhbat KHAMIDOV Сухбат ХАМИДОВ Soukhbat KHAMIDOV   USSR (Tajikistan), 1969, 87 mn  Black and white, fiction

Meeting at the Old Mosque ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ Встреча у старой мечети    Rencontre à la vieille mosquée  Vstrecha u staroy mecheti

Plot synopsis

This Central Asian Red Western is a superb blend of classic cowboy traits and Soviet cinema of the twenties. Taking place in a small Tajik town, a former Civil War hero takes up his gun once more when an old mosque is besieged by gold-diggers.
Meeting at the Old Mosque by the Tajik director Sukhbat Khamidov was made in 1969. Not only is that the date of production; it's also what the film is about. The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 showed everybody that the hopeful time of romanticism, faith in the future and attempts to reform the Communist state was over.
The action of the film takes place at the beginning of the thirties, just after the Civil War in Central Asia between the Red Army and the Turkish 'basmachi' (bandits) ended. The main character is Viktor, a Civil War hero who now is the party boss in a small Tajik town. He has to fight a small band of enemies who went to his town in the hope of finding gold and who are hiding at the old mosque. Viktor throws away paper and pen and takes up the gun once more.
www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com

Selected in the following festivals :

- Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam (Netherlands), 2011

- Era New Horizons IFF, Wroclaw (Poland), 2011

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